The worst of the euro crisis has passed as fears over the shared currency’s
future ease, according to Spain’s prime minister Mariano Rajoy.

The worst of the euro crisis has passed as fears over the shared currency’s future ease, according to Spain’s prime minister.

“There are doubts about the irreversibility of the euro, it’s true that there were more a few months ago than today,” Mariano Rajoy told a news conference in Madrid. “I’m totally and absolutely convinced that the worst has passed.”

Mr Rajoy, who was speaking a year after he came to power, is enacting spending cuts and tax increases designed to save €102bn (£82bn) from the Spanish budget by 2014. Spain is however, still expected to seek a sovereign bail-out, having already received a rescue for its banking sector.

Bad loans at Spanish banks reached a new record level in September, its central bank said yesterday. More than one in ten loans were classed as being at a high risk of not being paid, totalling more than €182bn.

Meanwhile, in an effort to reduce tax evasion, Spain yesterday began stopping consumers from paying bills of €2,500 or more in cash. The ban applies when at least one party to a deal, or sale, acts in a professional or commercial capacity, such as when someone pays a tradesman to work on their home.